The project in return for the rights to an article about it. You’ll get yourself killed fooling around down there.” Levitan agreed to fund His wife okayed the experiment, as did George Levitan, the editor of Sepia (a black-themed magazine) – though Levitan’s initial reaction was, “It’s a crazy He decided to undergo medical treatment to temporarily change the color of his skin. Made the decision to become what sociologists call a complete participant. Griffin, frustrated at the racial tensions that existed between blacks and whites, If he speaks a truth unpleasing to the white, the white will make life miserable for The Southern Negro will not tell the white man the truth. Neither really knew what went on with those of the other race. We lived side by side throughout the South, communication between the two races had “How else except by becoming a Negro could a white man hope to learn the truth? Though Race relations in the United States and frustrated by the lack of understanding between In his thirties, he had become increasingly concerned about By 1959, he was a published author, withĪ focus on race relations. Was in a pitied minority, not a hated one.

This was his first experience living as “The Other,” though it Injuries sustainedĭuring the Second World War resulted in blindness, a disability he lived with for For example, as a 19-year-old he worked as a medic in the French Resistance:Īs part of his service, he helped Austrian Jews escape from the Nazis. To social justice and demonstrated an appreciation for the plight of marginalized Was a middle-aged white man living in Mansfield, Texas in 1959.

Griffin, the author and main character in the book, Blount High School when I first read Black Like Me.

Jh griffin black like me